Archive for November, 2010

Today is Mr. Blandria’s birthday! As our friend Hilary would say, he’s the “King of the 20s” (aka 29). This has got us thinking how quickly the big 3-0 is approaching, for both of us. We’re not worried about it though; we already act like we’re 50 at times. “60 Minutes” is one of Blair’s favorite TV shows. After all, 30 is the new 25, right?

Blair models peppers from Ross and Maggie's garden in Minnesota.

Our friend Janna senses the big 3-0, too, and even created a “30 before 30” list. It was hilarious and serious at the same time. “Decide when I want kids, eat at a Brazilian steak house, figure out my foot odor problem, etc.” This list got us thinking; what would be on our “30 before 30″ list?

It was Tacodeli that gave us a start to our list. Sitting there eating lunch one day, we were admiring all the local food lists on which Tacodeli appeared — winner of this, runner up of that, top 10 x/y/z. We noticed all the other local food restaurants on these lists that we’d always wanted to try but just haven’t yet. We live in a great city with tons of restaurants that embrace local food, and we wanted to support them (and eat some delicious food). Our list was born. Challenge ON!

DISCLAIMER: This is a very rough draft, and the list isn’t complete. It also comes without any research…we just thought it up on a car ride. But, we wouldn’t be embracing all that blogs have to offer if we didn’t get advice from other people. After all, we’re not foodie experts.

The main rule is that we’re choosing places that at least one of us hasn’t been, preferably both. I know you as a reader have no idea where we have and haven’t eaten, so throw out the best you have. Give us your favorites. We’d love the restaurant to use local ingredients, but it definitely has to be local to Austin.

Top Notch Burgers

Vespaio

Hills Cafe

Texas Chili Parlor

Foreign and Domestic

Wink

Clay Pit

Frank and Angie’s

Uchi

Odd Duck Farm to Trailer

Cafe Josie

Iron Works

Ruby’s

ASTI Trattoria

Hyde Park Grill

Hudson’s on the Bend – DONE (1-year anniversary dinner)

Aquarelle

2 lb. donut from Roundrock Donuts

Andiamo

Food Heads

Catfist Parlor: Reel Tasty!

Dog Almighty

Omlettry

Dirty Martin’s

Matt’s El Rancho

FINO

Olivia

Eat Local Week is right around the corner, too – December 4-11. We definitely need to check out the list of participating restaurants for ideas.

Until then, happy birthday, Blair!

Local Food Potluck at Barr Mansion

P.S. We just attempted to pickle a lot of peppers from the garden last week, in an attempt to get ready for winter. We’ll let you know how it goes!